A Table Set For Two
by Krys33
Summary: Because he knew that she wouldn’t leave him sitting in a restaurant, alone at a table set for two. [GC, post1x14, one shot]


A/N: I needed to write another CSI fic after my nine-chapter Gilmore Girls story. I'm not a big multi-chapter writer, so that one took a lot of work from me. Thankfully, though, this is a one-shot, a little longer than my usual ones. It takes place around the events of the season one episode To Halve and to Hold. And it's a little weird, but hey, so am I.

Disclaimer: CSI isn't mine. Sorry. I also don't own Two Weeks Notice or the lines of dialogue that I borrowed from that amazing movie. And, no I don't own Spanglish or the quote below, either.

--

"I keep thinking that I should tell you what happened to me tonight. But I don't want to spoil this."

-John Clasky, Spanglish

--

Catherine stretched out across her couch in her nightgown, staring up at the ceiling. It was one of those rare evenings where she had the night off and the house to herself, and she was enjoying the silence. She loved her daughter to death, but Lindsey was a handful.

She sighed. The look on Gil's face just wouldn't leave her mind. It was easy to see how he felt about Teri, as much as he denied it.

And she couldn't help but think about how much she wished he'd look at _her _like that. Catherine shook her head, trying to somehow remove that idea from her brain. What was she _thinking_? This was Grissom.

She spent the better part of an hour trying to convince herself that she wasn't jealous. That she was _happy _for him, glad he'd finally found a woman.

Catherine took a deep breath. She needed to do something, needed to distract herself.

Sleeping was definitely out of the question. Going to bed with this issue weighing on her mind was a bad idea. She would only end up dreaming about it, and that would confuse her even more. After some thought, she decided on a movie.

She grabbed the first chick flick she saw, Two Weeks Notice, and stuck it in the DVD player. Grabbing a blanket and curling up on the couch, she prepared herself for a night of pure girly-ness.

She made it through most of the movie without any thoughts of her Grissom problem at all. But just before George's big speech to Lucy, her doorbell rang.

After stopping the DVD and wrapping her robe, which was thrown haphazardly over the arm of the sofa, around her, she headed for the door. She pulled it open, revealing a brooding Gil, hands shoved in his coat pockets, staring at his shoes. At the sound of the opening door, his head shot up and he looked her in the eye. "May I come in?" He asked politely.

"Sure." Catherine opened the door wider, allowing him to enter.

They both took a seat on the couch. Catherine sat cross-legged, leaning against the arm on one end, and Grissom sat feet flat on the floor, hands folded on the other. After a moment of silence, Catherine spoke. "You want a drink?"

Grissom nodded. "Just water."

"Be right back." Catherine rose from her seat and ambled into the kitchen. She returned a minute later with a glass of water held in each hand. After handing Gil his drink, she seated herself back on her end of the couch.

"So… Where've you been?" She asked, trying to strike up some sort of conversation.

"Insect analysis on the strip." He told her. She didn't need to know about Teri, right?

"Well, you are the bug guy."

Grissom cringed inwardly. Those had been Teri's exact words. He tried to get the focus off of him. "How's your night off been going?"

She sensed his discomfort, but decided not to push things. "I was watching a movie."

"I'm sorry for ruining your evening." He told her. At first, he hadn't been aware of anyone but himself, not realizing that he could potentially be disturbing her. All that had been on his mind when he drove to the Willows house was talking to a friend.

Catherine shook her head. "You didn't ruin anything. It was almost over anyway."

"Do you want to finish it?" He asked her.

She smiled at his thoughtfulness. "Nah. I know how it ends. Plus… it's not really a guy movie."

"What _is _a 'guy movie'?"

"Crashing cars, shooting guns, violence in general."

Gil suppressed a laugh. After all those years, apparently she didn't know him as well as he thought. Instead of chuckling, he raised a confused eyebrow, stating with only a look that those were definitely not his kind of movies.

"Maybe not for you." She quickly added, reading perfectly the meaning of his stare. "But you're far from the normal guy."

His mouth dropped open slightly in offense with this statement. It was hard for her to tell whether the look on his face was genuine, or if he was teasing.

Truthfully, Gil himself knew it was a little of both.

Catherine covered her mouth with her hand, stifling the short laugh that escaped her lips at the expression he wore. Seeing the glare she received with her laughter, she raised her arms in surrender. "You want to watch the movie? We'll watch the movie." She gestured at the side table next to Grissom. "Pass me the remote."

Ignoring the slight tingle she felt as their fingers brushed with the relay of the remote, Catherine pressed play and the movie picked up from where she'd left off.

On the screen, Mr. Wade began his speech as Catherine lay on her side across the couch, resting her head on the armrest and tucking her legs close to her body, taking up the majority of the sofa. She apologized softly as her bare feet bumped into Gil's leg. His focus on the film, though, seemed to have dulled his attention to the real world. Catherine smiled as she watched him watch the movie.

Though her focus wasn't completely on the events happening on the screen, she couldn't help but tear up as the speech hit its sappiest moments.

"_But mainly because this person, despite being unusually stubborn and unwilling to compromise and… a very poor dresser is…"_

She giggled softly at this line, despite her welling eyes. It got her every time.

"She's… rather like the building she loves so much." 

Catherine's attention remained on her couch partner.

"_A little rough around the edges, but when you look closely… absolutely beautiful. And the only one of her kind."_

Even through the small void between her toes and his thigh, she felt him tense the second the sentences left Hugh Grant's lips.

"_And even though I've said cruel things and driven her away, she's become the voice inside my head…"_

The movie continued, and Grissom paid a fair amount of attention to the happenings, but mainly his thoughts remained on those few lines. 'A little rough around the edges, but when you look closely, absolutely beautiful. And the only one of her kind.'

To him, that was the epitome of Catherine Willows.

Gil laughed at the humor of the ending, partly because it was funny and partly so Cath knew he was still watching. As the credits rolled across the screen, he couldn't help but feel wracked with guilt.

He was supposed to be her friend. Her _best _friend.

But there he was, hiding something from her.

And he didn't know why.

Well, he did. But he was in denial. He had avoided thinking about why he never spoke about Teri with Catherine so much that he had actually convinced himself that there was no reason for this behavior.

But deep down, he knew. He just wasn't ready to admit it to himself.

Yet.

For now, though, he was just going to enjoy himself; sitting next to his best friend, having a good time.

Because she accepted him for the middle-aged, bug-loving, workaholic that he was.

And because he knew that she wouldn't leave him sitting in a restaurant, alone at a table set for two.

--

The End


End file.
